April 15-26 - A two-week long training for law enforcement in Cape Verde was organized as part of CRIMJUST's efforts to strengthen transnational judicial cooperation. It aimed to reinforce police, courts and correction system's capacities. Following the creation of a new Central Directorate of Criminal Investigation of the National Police (DCIN), CRIMJUST and the US Department of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) organized a Training-of-Trainers Basic Criminal Investigations course delivered to the national police with a view of developing skills in identifying, preventing and combating organized crime. The training was conducted by highly qualified professionals from the Boston Police Department, the judicial and national police in Cape Verde, the Attorney General Office in Cape Verde and Portugal, and the Federal Police in Brazil.
Organized crime has proliferated in Cape Verde with increasing links between West Africa and Latin and Central America being recorded. In this vein, CRIMJUST has attempted to counter the growth of inter-regional crime by developing and promoting global legal and police mechanisms and fostering inter-regional judicial collaboration.
CRIMJUST's initiatives aim to build national judicial capacities on the long-term and ensure countries take ownership for their fight against illicit trafficking. Its commitment to enforcing sustainable change is reflected by its training-the-trainers approach ensuring that expertise is shared, maintained and exploited in national countries.
Developing sustainable and relevant mechanisms to counter transnational drug trafficking is imperative to enable countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, namely SDG16: " Peace justice and strong institutions"; and SDG17: " Partnerships for the goals". CRIMJUST is committed to contributing to the broader goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Under the framework of the CRIMJUST project funded by European Union Cocaine Route Programme, UNODC and its partners (INTERPOL and TI) aim to assist Member States to enhance their capacity and integrity of criminal justice institutions to detect, investigate, prosecute and adjudicate illicit cocaine trafficking cases, and to foster cooperation at the interregional level for effective action to tackle drug trafficking and related organized crime.
For more information:
- European Union "Cocaine Route Programme"